Sources from Takhar province have informed Afghanistan International that the Taliban has arrested seven of its own members in the Baharak district on suspicion of collaborating with ISIS.
According to the information received, the seven individuals were detained at one of the Taliban’s checkpoints in the area. Reliable sources disclosed that last Monday, the Taliban launched an operation against ISIS in Baharak district.
The arrests come amidst growing concerns about ISIS’s presence in the region. The United Nations Security Council recently reported that ISIS-Khorasan has ambitions to gain control of Afghanistan. The report suggests that Afghanistan could serve as a base from which neighbouring countries can be infiltrated, thereby increasing the terrorist threat to Central Asia, Russia, and Iran.
Sources have informed Afghanistan International that the Taliban, following its ban on broadcasting images of living beings, is planning to convert some state television stations into radio outlets.
According to these sources, staff from the national television network in Kabul and various provinces are likely to be reassigned to work at these new radio stations.
Information obtained by Afghanistan International suggests that the Taliban is in the process of establishing several new radio stations aimed at promoting the group’s policies and disseminating its religious views.
Sources report that “Radio Bayan-e Shomal” will be renamed “Radio Hurriyat,” with its broadcasts managed by the Taliban’s intelligence services. Additionally, the Taliban plans to launch a dedicated radio station for the Ministry of Interior, and another station for its military forces.
Multiple sources have confirmed to Afghanistan International that the Taliban intends to cease operations of Afghanistan’s national television and replace it with “Radio Shariat,” which is set to resume broadcasting. Radio Shariat was a key media outlet during the Taliban’s first regime under Mullah Omar.
According to sources, Yusuf Ahmadi, the head of national television under Taliban control, stated in a meeting with media managers that the decision to stop television broadcasts was made by the Taliban leadership. The Taliban had already halted national television transmissions in Kandahar and Takhar.
Afghanistan’s national television, as a state-run media platform, came under Taliban control when the group seized power. Over the past three years, the Taliban has suspended many cultural and social programmes on the network and dismissed its female staff.
This move to shut down state-run visual media follows a recent statement by the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue, which indicated that the group is gradually enforcing a law banning the broadcast of images of living beings. A Taliban official told Agence France-Presse that this law is already being implemented in several provinces.
The Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has initiated a campaign against the depiction of living beings in images and videos.
A representative from the ministry announced on Saturday that filming and displaying such images in offices or homes contravenes Islamic law.
Under Article 17 of the Taliban’s Law on the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, filming or photographing living beings, or creatures with souls, is prohibited.
The Taliban has officially begun efforts to restrict filming, video recording, and the operations of certain visual media outlets in various provinces. The group asserts that, according to the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, photography constitutes a “major sin.”
On Saturday, the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue released a statement on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) featuring remarks from Mohammad Yahya Arif, a Mufti of the ministry. In the statement, Arif declared, “Filming all creatures with souls, including donkeys, dogs, lions, and birds, is forbidden. These images should neither be sold nor purchased, nor should they be kept in homes.”
Addressing the public, the Mufti further noted that “photographing animals like donkeys and birds serves no purpose.”
Arif stressed that “when the Promotion of Virtue declares that images are prohibited and against Sharia, this is not a personal opinion; it is an order derived from Sharia and the teachings of the Prophet of God.”
He called on the public to refrain from photography and the display of images, asserting that these actions are regarded as sinful and would invite “divine punishment.”
Some scholars within the Islamic world have criticised the Taliban’s stance, viewing it as a reflection of their extreme interpretation of Islam. This view contrasts with the interpretations held by other Islamic scholars and institutions, including the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
There are even scholars who argue that the Taliban’s extremist interpretations contribute to tarnishing the image of Islam.
In line with this stance, the Taliban have classified visual media operations as contrary to Sharia and have officially initiated efforts to close them down. This process began in Kandahar and has since spread to Takhar, where local television stations were ordered to cease operations.
On Saturday, reports emerged suggesting that the Taliban plans to halt broadcasts of Afghanistan’s national television network.
The Purple Saturdays Movement said in a statement that reopening Taliban-controlled schools with extremist content is more dangerous than keeping girls' schools closed.
Promoting extremism could have dire consequences for Afghanistan's future, the movement said.
In a statement sent to the media on Friday, October 19, the Purple Saturdays Movement wrote, "The reopening of Taliban-controlled schools, changes in educational content, and changes in the way students dress are far more dangerous than the closure of schools."
In Taliban-controlled schools, students are being taught extremist ideas, the statement said.
The authors of the statement stressed that women in Afghanistan are aware of their legal and human rights and condemn any violation of these rights.
The Purple Saturdays Movement has called for Taliban leaders to be prosecuted for gender apartheid, war crimes, forced migration, human rights abuses and suicide attacks.
The Purple Saturdays Movement is a protest movement by Afghan women protesters that was formed in response to the Taliban's restrictions on women's rights. Members of this movement use various methods of protest to emphasise women's right to education and freedoms and call on the international community to pay more attention to women's rights in Afghanistan.
Hasibullah Noori, the spokesman for the Taliban-controlled Central Bank of Afghanistan, announced the approval of a new law on "money exchange and services". Under the new law, no one can perform paid services without a licence, Noori said.
He stressed that working as a money changer without a licence is considered a "crime" after the law is signed and will be prevented.
So far, the Taliban-controlled Central Bank of Afghanistan has not released the full version of the law.
The Taliban-controlled Bakhtar News Agency reported on Friday (October 19) that the Central Bank of Afghanistan says that the new law has made it easier for money changers to obtain licences. However, Bakhtar has not explained what these facilities are.
‘Three years of dissatisfaction with Taliban's monetary policy’
In the past three years, relations between the Taliban and money changers have been accompanied by numerous dissatisfaction by money changers and the issuance of new orders by the Taliban. The issuance of new Taliban rules has led to frequent protests and arrests of money changers.
Money changers complain that the Taliban has imposed heavy fees for obtaining an exchange licence and they cannot afford to pay it. According to money changers, the Taliban have set a fee of five to six million afghanis for obtaining a licence and three million afghanis for a guarantee. In this way, each money changer must pay 9 million afghanis to the Taliban to obtain a work permit.
In the past three years, the Taliban has repeatedly closed the exchange offices of Herat, Kandahar, Kabul and some other provinces due to lack of licences. The high cost of licences and the imposition of increasing restrictions on money changers have been met with widespread reactions across Afghanistan. They have repeatedly protested and demanded that these problems be addressed.
Citing the history of inviting the Taliban to Oslo, Human Rights Watch has said that Norway has a "cautious and ambivalent" stance on the harassment of Afghan women.
The organisation called on Norway to join a possible complaint by Germany, the Netherlands and Australia against the Taliban in the International Court of Justice.
In January 2022, Norway provided the Taliban with the opportunity to meet with Western officials in Europe for the first time.
Then, in June this year, Norway and some Western governments responded positively to the Taliban's request to participate in an international conference without the presence of Afghan women.
Citing violations of women's rights in Afghanistan, including bans on education, employment, movement without a male relative, and the use of public places without a male relative, Norway has nevertheless taken a cautious stance toward the Taliban, Human Rights Watch said.
Despite international efforts to hold the Taliban accountable for misogynistic policies, "Norway appears to have joined other countries seeking to establish normal relations with the Taliban," according to the human rights body.
In addition, Human Rights Watch criticised the UN Human Rights Council, saying that it has so far failed to establish a comprehensive accountability mechanism in Afghanistan to document and support all serious crimes, especially crimes against women and girls.
Recently, some countries, including Germany, Australia, the Netherlands, and Canada, have started a process against the Taliban, which may lead to the filing of a case in the International Court of Justice for violating the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
Human Rights Watch called on Norway to join the process, stressing that it should actively support the move if it opposes "double standards in its foreign policy”.